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I am not a road cyclist.

At least I wasn't. That all changed when I decided to report on Ride the Rockies from the seat of my bike while actually riding it.

I do ride my bike on the road, but it is from point A to point B and usually there is dirt on both sides of that equation.

As soon as I learned to ride a bike, I was constructing ramps to jump off. I like dirt under my tires rather than pavement. In high school and college, I raced mountain bikes competitively and today I ride across the Front Range multiple times a week.

So when it came to deciding how to cover Ride the Rockies, I figured what better way than to ride the tour and report live from the road. I've always been of the mindset the best way to write about something is to experience it firsthand.

With that in mind, I will be sharing my experiences - better or worse - leading up to and during Ride the Rockies.

For those not familiar, Ride the Rockies is a six-day bicycle tour, this year covering 442 miles starting in Gunnison and ending at Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins. It includes five mountain passes, two national parks and nearly 25,000 vertical feet of elevation.

It's a big, long ride, at least bigger and longer than any ride I have done in my life. My hope is that my mountain bike skills and stamina will transition to road riding.

I have my work cut out for me.

My biggest problem is I am better built to be a linebacker than a cyclist. I am 6-foot 2-inches and weigh about 230 pounds. On average, I will be carrying at least 50 more pounds than your standard RTR rider.

I started my training by joining a spinning class at my gym, doing it twice a week for the past month. Like anything in a gym, the training is good but can't compare to the real thing. So I found a training schedule through Outside Magazine and started riding.

To say training is not going well would be an understatement.

I started using my full-suspension mountain bike because it's all I have. However 50 miles on the road on a mountain bike gets old, so I borrowed a friend's road bike that he bought on Craigslist for $100.

I made two laps around a parking lot and tried to shift when the derailleur snapped off and went flying. As a bonus, the chain snapped and the wheel guard bent into the spokes. The silver lining: it didn't happen while I was going 30 mph.

My third bike is another one I borrowed - a 20-year-old Specialized Crossroads. It isn't a full-on road bike, but it is better adapted with thinner tires than my mountain bike.

The gears have broken on it once, leaving me stranded 10 miles into my ride. But it's fixed and I'm back on track, sort of.

I'm currently averaging 50 to 100 miles a week due to equipment problems and time constraints. I need to double that and work on climbing.

If you have or are going to be riding Ride the Rockies, I'd like to hear from you. How are you preparing for the tour and what rides do you like to do around here?